At the beginning, I cleaned the Sutra Library and completed the incomplete skills.

Chapter 201: Anomaly

During this period,

all Cultivators of the Righteous Path, including those from the Human Emperor Hall, frantically searched for Li Lan's whereabouts, as if they had gone mad.

They practically turned the entire Jiuhua County upside down.

However, he seemed to have vanished into thin air.

After causing the Heaven and Earth Anomaly in Lin'an Stronghold, he never showed his face again.

Regarding Li Lan's true whereabouts,

different Cultivators in Jiuhua County offered various opinions.

Some said he had already been stripped of his Opportunity and died at the hands of a powerful Cultivator, leaving no trace of his body.

Some said he had secretly joined the Human Emperor Hall's demonic faction, becoming their lackey.

Some said he had escaped the inescapable net by using Possession to change his aura.

Others claimed he had been accepted by the White Lotus Sect and taken as a personal Great Disciple by the powerful Yu Prefecture branch leader.

Rumors proliferated, but no Cultivator could verify their authenticity.

Inside Dragon Gate Pass, in a private room of a teahouse.

A Cultivator with a child's head smiled as he took out several brocade boxes and pushed them across the table.

"Fellow Daoist, the soul-guiding artemisia, Yellow Orchid, and other spiritual plants you requested are all here.

Alas, the world is a bit chaotic these days; it took me quite some effort to acquire these items."

The black-clad figure opposite him waved a hand, collecting all the spiritual plants into his possession.

He then tossed out two Storage Pouches filled with Spirit Stones.

"Consider the extra as a reward for you."

After the next sentence,

the black-clad figure ignored the other party, turned, and left the place.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist. Take care."

The child-headed Cultivator gleefully weighed the Storage Pouch twice, then looked at the black-clad figure's retreating back, his eyes flickering.

Leaving the teahouse,

the black-clad figure immediately exited Dragon Gate Pass and rode a Magical Artifact into the Great Barrens.

But before he had flown a hundred li,

several streaks of rainbow light swept past him at an extremely fast speed, arriving in front of him in an instant.

Upon closer inspection,

it was the child-headed Cultivator he had just met.

"Hehe, I just checked, and I suddenly found that the number of Spirit Stones isn't right. Fellow Daoist, you should at least give an explanation, shouldn't you?"

The child-headed Cultivator chuckled with ill intent.

He gave a look, and several people quickly surrounded the black-clad figure.

The situation was already clear.

The child-headed Cultivator felt that this transaction wasn't enough, so he called his friends to prepare for another robbery.

The black-clad figure seemed utterly unsurprised by this scene.

He didn't even make a move. A pair of indifferent eyes beneath his wide hood shot onto the child-headed Cultivator's face,

and he said faintly:

"Fellow Daoist, are you truly going to tear off all pretenses?

The spiritual plants you provided are of good quality. If you retreat now, I can pretend nothing happened.

In the future, I will also trade with you more often. Wouldn't a win-win situation for both of us be better?"

Upon hearing this, the child-headed Cultivator

scoffed, no longer bothering to conceal his intentions.

"Hehe, win-win? Ridiculous!

If I kill you, all your Cultivation resources will be mine. Why share when I can have it all?

I advise you, don't struggle in vain anymore.

We are all at the Cultivation Base of Qi Refining Late Stage. You are alone and weak; how can you be a match for us?

Honestly hand over all your valuable resources, and if I'm in a good mood, I might even leave you with an intact corpse."

Seeing that negotiations were fruitless,

the black-clad figure said no more.

He snapped his fingers,

and dozens more black-clad figures instantly appeared around him.

These newly appeared figures showed no hesitation, pulling out Formation Flags and other items from their bodies,

and actually began setting up a Formation on the spot.

The child-headed Cultivator was initially startled, but after seeing how pitifully weak the magical power of these Cultivators was,

he regained his composure.

"Stubborn resistance! Brothers, attack!"

At the child-headed Cultivator's command, his accomplices were about to scatter and slaughter these figures.

However, the black-clad figure was already prepared for this.

With a flick of his single hand, several Magical Artifacts, Talismans, and scrolls of various kinds appeared behind him.

Chanting a magical incantation, these Magical Artifacts flew out like a swarm of locusts.

For a time,

the black-clad figure, by himself, managed to overwhelm everyone on the child-headed Cultivator's side.

Even more critically,

one of the items, a stick wrapped in white cloth strips, was especially powerful.

Wherever it passed, not a single Cultivator, even those at the Cultivation Base of Qi Refining Late Stage, could withstand even half a move.

In a single encounter, all of them were struck down, their heart meridians severed, and they vomited blood before dying.

"What—what in the world is this?! How can it be so powerful?!"

The remaining bandit Cultivators were filled with alarm and doubt, their faces showing expressions of having seen a ghost.

Only the child-headed Cultivator, being a somewhat knowledgeable merchant, understood what was happening.

His expression changed drastically as he cried out in alarm.

"This is a Magic Treasure! How can a Cultivator at the Cultivation Base of Qi Refining Late Stage have a Magic Treasure in hand? This is impossible!"

The black-clad figure did not speak.

He continuously formed hand seals, and though the Magic Treasure appeared cumbersome,

it now danced gracefully like a nimble bee among flowers,

except that wherever it flew, it collected not honey, but the heads of these bandit Cultivators.

"It's getting dangerous, let's split!"

The child-headed Cultivator inwardly cursed, let out a loud shout, and turned to flee without looking back.

Although they were all Cultivators of the same Realm, and their side had a numerical advantage, in battles between Cultivators, the decisive factor has never been numbers or Realm.

Although the Magic Treasure only possessed a small portion of the power of a Magic Treasure,

it was far inferior to pseudo-Magic Treasures and Talisman Treasures.

But it was, after all, a Magic Treasure, and its grade was still significantly higher than their ordinary Magical Artifacts.

As long as his magical power was not exhausted,

it would be incredibly easy for this black-clad figure to deal with them, ordinary Cultivators without a Magic Treasure.

The child-headed Cultivator quickly recognized the situation.

This time, he had truly kicked a steel plate; this person was definitely not someone they could easily provoke.

However, realizing this now,

it was already a bit late.

The surrounding figures were already in position, and as the Formation Flags in their hands emitted a dazzling light,

the Great Formation was activated.

Even if the child-headed Cultivator and his group had wings, they would find it difficult to escape this inescapable net.

The black-clad figure, controlling the Magic Treasure, was like a butcher, mercilessly harvesting lives.

In a short while,

all the bandit Cultivators, including the child-headed Cultivator, had perished.

The black-clad figure removed the blood-stained black robe, revealing his true face.

Though his appearance was extremely similar to human skin, upon closer inspection, the differences could be easily distinguished.

The black-clad figure's face appeared somewhat stiff, and his pupils were particularly unfocused, completely lacking in spirit.

If a disciple of the Mohist school, skilled in Puppet mechanisms, were present,

he would surely be astonished to discover that this was a lifelike Puppet.

A group of Cultivators at the Cultivation Base of Qi Refining Late Stage had thus died at the hands of a Puppet.

Who knows what the child-headed Cultivator would think if he knew in the afterlife.

"Fortunately, every time I make a transaction, I have a Spirit Bean Soldier carry a Magic Treasure for protection, otherwise, I really wouldn't have any way to deal with you bandit Cultivators."

The black-clad figure muttered to himself,

and with a wave of his hand, began to examine the Storage Pouches of the child-headed Cultivator and the others.

All the bandit Cultivators had been executed,

and the surrounding figures holding Formation Flags also revealed their true forms.

These were all Spirit Bean Soldiers controlled by Li Lan's Divine Sense.

His main body was busy in secluded Cultivation,

and the consumption of Gathering Qi Pills was considerable.

To ensure a continuous supply of Medicinal Pills over the past three years,

Li Lan often controlled Spirit Bean Soldiers to travel to Dragon Gate Pass to trade for the Alchemy Materials he needed.

Although he was extremely careful,

never trading in the same place twice, and always keeping the quantity of spiritual plants traded exceptionally small,

trying his best not to attract attention.

Even so,

he would still frequently attract the attention of ill-intentioned individuals.

The current scene was not uncommon.

After the Spirit Bean Soldier cleaned up the battlefield and erased all traces,

it returned to Li Lan's Immortal Cave.

Li Lan, sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion, slowly exhaled a breath rich in Spiritual Qi and opened his eyes.

Upon internal inspection,

it could be seen that most of the space in his Dantian was now occupied by condensed magical power beads.

This was the result of Li Lan's tireless Cultivation day and night over the past three years.

Once the condensed magical power beads in his Dantian overflowed, that would be the time for him to Breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Realm.

For ordinary True Spiritual Root Cultivators to Breakthrough from Early-stage Foundation Establishment to Foundation Establishment Middle Stage,

even with external assistance, it would take at least twenty to thirty years of accumulation.

Yet, Li Lan, with his mere pseudo-Spiritual Root Aptitude, was already close to reaching this step in just three short years.

His progress speed was undeniably fast.

This, of course, was entirely due to the help of Cultivation resources such as the Eternal Life Coffin, Devouring Yuan Great Art, purple sandalwood tree core, Gathering Qi Pill, and Gathering Spirit Formation.

If even one of these resources were missing, his progress speed would likely not have been so rapid.

To say what helped the most, it would have to be the Eternal Life Coffin.

The substantial Spiritual Qi flowing from this item completely solved the Cultivator's over-reliance on Spiritual Veins for advancement.

With this item,

no matter where Li Lan was, he could always Cultivate in an environment comparable to a Medium-Grade Spirit Vein.

What surprised him even more was that,

this Eternal Life Coffin, whose specific grade as a Magic Treasure was unknown,

seemed to contain an endless supply of Spiritual Qi.

Li Lan had absorbed it tirelessly for three years, yet he still hadn't seen any signs of it depleting.

No wonder this item caused such a Heaven and Earth Anomaly, attracting the attention of all Cultivators in Jiuhua County.

Just based on this continuous flow of substantial Spiritual Qi, it deserved such treatment.

Li Lan was not particularly worried for now about how he would find a Medium-Grade Spirit Vein to Cultivate once this Spiritual Qi depleted.

As it currently appeared,

the Spiritual Qi in this Eternal Life Coffin would likely suffice until he Breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage Realm without any issue.

These substantial Spiritual Qi not only greatly assisted Li Lan,

but also provided extraordinary help to the purple sandalwood tree core.

After three years of continuous nourishment,

this seemingly ordinary wooden stump seemed to have found a second spring.

The tender shoots at the top grew wildly, now reaching three zhang in height.

The deep purple, almost black, outer bark also regrew around the tree core,

making it appear that after another ten years or so of nourishment, a complete Purple Sandalwood Old Tree could form again.

At that time,

Li Lan could spend seventy to eighty years cultivating a batch of seventy to eighty-year-old Purple Sandalwood Spiritual Beans for his own use from this tree.

Purple Sandalwood Spiritual Beans of seventy to eighty years would produce Spirit Bean Soldiers at the Qi Refining Tenth Realm.

Perhaps Spirit Beans of one hundred years, or one hundred and twenty years, could produce Spirit Bean Soldiers at Great Perfection, or even Early-stage Foundation Establishment.

The higher the Realm of these Spirit Bean Soldiers,

the faster the speed at which one could use the Devouring Yuan Great Art to raise one's own Cultivation Realm.

Li Lan still had one hundred and sixty-three years of Lifespan remaining,

which was sufficient for him to cultivate a batch of ancient spiritual plants.

With a plan in mind,

Li Lan prepared to use the newly acquired Materials from these transactions to refine more Gathering Qi Pills for future use.

Just then,

Li Lan's brow slightly twitched, and he stopped his actions.

In the southwest direction, the farthest Spirit Bean Soldier responsible for vigilance suddenly detected an abnormal situation and sent him a warning.